गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; INTRODUCTION. 99
General Cunningham’s Table¹ mentions no solar eclipse, as having occurred during
the period defined above. But, by calculations from Prof. K. L. Chhatre’s Tables,
Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit finds² that there was an eclipse of the sun, on Tuesday, the 7th
May, A.D. 905, corresponding to the new-moon tithi of the Pûrṇimânta northern Jyesh-
ṭha of Śaka-Saṁvat 828 current, which fully answers the required conditions.³ It was visible
at Môrbî; over almost the whole of Southern India; and in Ceylon. The magnitude,
at Môrbî, was one ninth of the sun’s disc; and, in the southern parts of India, greater than
this. And the middle of the eclipse, at Môrbî, was at 12.9 midday of the Môrbî mean
civil time. This eclipse, accordingly, was very distinctly visible at Môrbî; even if it was
not known beforehand, from calculations.
This result, therefore, fully answers to the conditions of the record. It does not, in
itself, furnish conclusive proof, either as to the exact epoch of the era, or as to the scheme
of the year; for the reason that, if treated as a southern date, the day of the eclipse,
represented in that case by the new-moon tithi of the Amânta southern Vaiśâkha, belonged
to the southern Śaka-Saṁvat 828, and to the southern Vikrama-Saṁvat 962, as well as to
the northern Śaka-Saṁvat 828 and Vikrama-Saṁvat 963. But it answers, as is required,
to the running difference of two hundred and forty-two years between current Gupta-Valabhî
and current Saka years; and to the treatment of the Gupta year as a northern Śaka year.
And it gives Śaka-Saṁvat 828 current (A.D. 905-906), as the equivalent of the indicated
current Gupta year.
In respect of the given solar day for the writing of the charter, viz. the fifth solar day
in the bright fortnight of the month Phâlguna (February-March), as the name of the week-
day is not given, the only test that we can apply is the presumption⁴ that the running
number of the lunar tithi is the same as that of the solar day; i.e. that the fifth lunar tithi
ended on the fifth solar day of the fortnight. If the year 586, connected with this solar
day, is to be taken as expired, as in connection with the eclipse, this should be the case in
Śaka-Saṁvat 828. And, by calculations for that year from Prof. K. L. Chhatre’s Tables,
Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit finds that the preceding new-moon tithi, which was that of the
Pûrṇimânta northern Phâlguna, or the Amânta southern Mâgha, ended on Monday, the
27th January, A.D. 906; and that the fifth tithi of the bright fortnight of Phâlguna ended

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¹ See Indian Eras, p. 213.
² For his calculations, which are based on the apparent longitudes of the sun and the moon, he
has taken the latitude and longitude of Môrbî, which I was not then able to supply to him, as ..2° 45′
N. and 70° 51′ E. I now find that, in Thornton’s Gazetteer of India, the figures are 22° 49′ N. and
70° 53′ E. Mr. Sh. B. Dikshit states, however, that the difference will not palpably affect his results.
³ So also Prof. K. L. Chhatre himself obtained the same eclipse; see Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar’s
Early History of the Dekkan, p. 99, where, with a slight difference of phraseology, the eclipse is
given as occurring "on the 30th of Vaiśâkha, Śaka 827;" the reference being to the Amânta
southern month and the expired Śaka year.
⁴ See page 85 above, note 1.

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